A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick puts us in the fracturing mind of a drug addict, and it’s an odd experience.
As with all my reviews, I’ll be objective about the writing technicalities, and specify where I feel something is valid but not to my taste. My final rating will be an average of my objective score and my personal opinion.
I use the following star scale:
1 = did not like it
2 = it was ok
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = it was amazing
There are no spoilers in this review.
So what is it?
short_synopsis
A police officer works undercover amongst drug users to find their supplier and bring them down, but struggles with his own addiction.
plot
The plot isn’t so much about what the main character is doing, but what is happening to him.
As a cop working undercover with drug users, he has to take the dangerous Substance D himself to fit in, and the story follows his gradual fracture. Some of the scrapes and conversations are darkly amusing and/or disturbing, especially as this novel was based on the author’s lived experience.
There’s no real surprise about where the story goes; it feels inevitable. The finale is quite abrupt, but understandably so. It isn’t the most satisfying conclusion, but it’s not disappointing either.
people
Pretty much all the cast are defined by whether they are a drug taker or a police officer. The main character is both, of course, but there isn’t much else to any of them.
One of the main group of drug users is a troublemaker, and is the prime concern for the main character most of the time, but there’s never any motive or reason given for the way he acts.
The main character’s girlfriend is more enigmatic, and a loose cannon, but like everyone else, she doesn’t feel real.
place
This is often categorised as science fiction, but the only real signs of this are two technological items the cops use: scramble suits, which cover the wearer’s skin and display constantly changing images to hide their identity; and holocubes that record video in 3D.
We see the world from the main character’s perspective, and drugs are very much the centre of it. Everything revolves around drugs: locations are places to take or get or hide drugs; people are either taking drugs or trying to stop people from taking drugs; organisations are there to make drugs or make money from drugs or stop people taking drugs. Drugs, drugs, drugs.
prose
This is mostly told from inside the head of the undercover cop, and it’s an interesting place to be.
The writing isn’t showy or over-the-top, which is a good thing. The conversations were often rambling, the actions lacking logic, and they are told in almost basic terms without an extra layer of unnecessarily flowery writing that could have added extra confusion.
It does a very good job of showing the gradual fracture of the main character’s mind, as he increasingly goes off on long and delusional digressions and forgets who he is.
conclusion
I haven’t taken drugs, but this convincingly gives the reader the impression of what it’s like. As that appears to be its main goal, I have to say well done.
If you want to experience a mind splitting in two due to drugs, I would recommend this. If you’re hoping for a concise takedown of drug culture or the drug industry, this isn’t that.
This is a book I respect more than love. It was very effective, so objectively I give it four out of five. But personally, I can’t say I really liked it, so I give it a three. I don’t give half marks, so I’ll round it down.
My score: 3 out of 5
A list of the book reviews posted to my blog is here.
